兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第十冊 Ghost Town at Sundown 03

3 Player Piano

Outside， the sad tune played on.

“It’s coming from there，” said Annie.

She crept toward a building that had a sign with the word HOTEL on it. Jack limped after her.

Annie slowly pushed open a swinging door. They peeked inside.

The fading daylight lit a piano in the corner of the room. The keys were moving up and down. But no one was there!

“Yikes，” whispered Annie.“A ghost playing the piano!”

Suddenly the keys were still. The air got very cold.

“No. No way，” said Jack. “There’s no such thing as a ghost.”

“We saw one in ancient Egypt，” whispered Annie.

“Yeah， but that was ancient Egypt，” said Jack. Even so， his heart raced.

“I’ll look it up.” Jack pulled out the Wild West book. He found a picture of a piano. He read aloud：

Player pianos were popular in the Old West. The piano played automatically when someone pumped its floor pedals.Later， with the help of electricity， the piano played all by itself.

“Whew.” Jack closed the book. “I knew there was an answer，” he said. “It must be electric， and somehow it came on.”

“I didn’t know they had electricity in the Wild West，” said Annie.

“They didn’t，” said Jack.

He looked at Annie. “Oh， man， let’s get out of here!” he said.

Jack and Annie backed out of the hotel.

When they got outside， they heard another sound：horse hooves thumping against the hard ground.

A cloud of dust seemed to be moving toward the town. As it got closer， Jack saw three riders.They were herding a small band of horses.

“Hide!” Jack said.

“Where?” said Annie.

Jack looked around wildly. He saw two barrels outside the hotel.

“There!” he said.

Jack and Annie hurried to the empty barrels.Jack climbed inside one and tried to scrunch down.His hat wouldn’t fit!He jumped out of the barrel and threw his hat into the hotel.

“Mine， too!” said Annie.

Jack grabbed hers and threw it.Then he scrambled back into the barrel.

Just in time.

Jack heard the horses thunder into town.He peeked through a crack in the barrel and saw a blur of cowboys and horses go by.

“Whoa!” “Whoa!” “Whoa!” men shouted.Jack heard the horses come to a halt. They stamped and snorted. All he could see were shadows through the crack.

Dust covered Jack. He had to sneeze.He pinched his nose.

“The creek bed must have dried up!” a cowboy yelled. “This town’s a ghost!”

“Yup， it gives me the shivers，” said another.“Let’s camp over the rise.”

Jack really had to sneeze now. He pinched his nose tighter. But he couldn’t stop the sneeze. He let out a choked “Ah-choo!”

“What was that?” someone said.

Just then a loud whinny split the air. Jack saw a beautiful horse rear up.

She had no rider or saddle， just a rope around her neck. She was as red as the sunset.She had a wild black mane and a white star above her eyes.

“We can’t keep fighting this one， boss!” a cowboy yelled.

“Yup. She wants her colt，” another said. “We shouldn’t have left him behind.”

“He was too slow，” a growly voice said. “We’ll sell her when we cross the border.”

That’s terrible! thought Jack.He knew Annie must be upset， too.He just hoped that she wouldn’t jump out of her barrel.

But the cowboys pulled the red horse away.The ground rang from the pounding of hooves as they galloped off.

Jack and Annie stood up.They watched the riders disappear into the dust.

The pounding faded away.All was quiet again， except for the lazy buzzing of flies.

“They were mean to that horse，” Annie said in a low， angry voice.

“I know. But there was nothing we could do，” said Jack. His boots were killing him. He climbed out of his barrel.

“Man， I have to get these off，” he said.

Jack sat down on the porch of the hotel.He grabbed the boot of one foot and pulled.

“Jack，” said Annie， “I think there is something we can do.”

“What?” Jack looked up.

A small horse was running down the road. He was as red as the wild mother horse.He had the same black mane and white star above his eyes.

A rope was around his neck. He looked very lost.

3自動演奏的鋼琴

外面，悲傷的曲調(diào)依然彈奏著。

“是從那里傳來的。”安妮說。

安妮躡手躡腳地向一幢掛著“旅館”的房子走去，杰克則一瘸一拐地跟在后面。

安妮慢慢地推開一扇搖搖晃晃的門，他們一齊往里看去。

夕陽的余光正照在角落里的一架鋼琴上。琴鍵一上一下地叮咚作響，卻不見有人彈奏。

“哎呀!”安妮小聲地說，“一定是一個幽靈在彈琴。”

突然所有的琴鍵都停了下來?？諝庾兊脹鲲`颼的。

“不，不可能。”杰克說，“根本就沒有所謂的幽靈。”

“可是我們在古埃及見過一個啊。”安妮輕聲地說。

“但那是在古埃及。”杰克回答。雖然是這么說，他的心還是加速跳動著。

“我來查查看。”杰克拿出狂野西部那本書。他找到了一幅鋼琴的畫，大聲讀道：

在昔日的西部，自動演奏鋼琴是很普遍的。只要有人踩踏板，鋼琴就能自動演奏。后來，借助電力，又有了完全自動演奏的鋼琴。

“嘿。”杰克合上書，“我就知道一定會有答案的。”他說，“一定是電，一定有電通過來了。”

“我可不知道在狂野的西部還有電。”安妮說。

“是沒有啊。”杰克說。

他一面看著安妮，大聲說：“天啊，咱們快點離開這里吧。”

杰克和安妮趕緊離開了旅館。

他們一到外面，又聽到了另一種聲音：馬蹄敲擊堅硬地面所發(fā)出的聲音。

似乎有一片塵霧正朝小鎮(zhèn)涌來。當塵霧飄近時，杰克看到了三個騎馬的人。他們趕著一小群馬。

“快躲起來!”杰克說。

“躲到哪里啊?”安妮問。

杰克忙亂地向四周看看，看到旅館外面的兩個酒桶。

“那里!”杰克說。

杰克和安妮趕緊跑向那兩個空酒桶。杰克爬進其中一個，準備蹲下來?？伤拿弊訁s塞不進去。杰克跳出酒桶，把帽子扔進了旅館。

“還有我的!”安妮說。

杰克一把奪過安妮的帽子也扔了進去。然后又趕緊爬進了桶里。時間剛剛好。

杰克聽到馬隊沖進了小鎮(zhèn)。他從酒桶的縫隙里向外看，模模糊糊看到一群牛仔和馬經(jīng)過。

“吁!”“吁!”“吁!”那些人喊道。

杰克聽到馬隊停了下來。那些馬跺著腳，打著響鼻。從縫隙中，杰克只能看到一些影子。

塵霧撲面而來。杰克想打噴嚏了，他使勁捏著自己的鼻子。

“小溪的河床一定已經(jīng)干了!”一個牛仔嚷嚷著，“這個鎮(zhèn)就是個鬼鎮(zhèn)。”

“是啊，我都有些怕得發(fā)抖呢。”另一個牛仔說，“咱們在高處扎營吧。”

杰克現(xiàn)在真的要打噴嚏了。他愈發(fā)使勁地捏住鼻子，卻還是沒能壓住噴嚏。他發(fā)出了一聲：“阿嚏!”

“什么聲音?”有人說。

就在這時，一陣馬嘶劃破長空，杰克看見一匹駿馬揚起前蹄。

這匹馬既沒有人騎也沒有馬鞍，只是在脖子上拴了一根繩子。它的毛色紅得像落日一般，有著一排野性的黑色鬃毛，雙眼上方的前額上還有一顆白色的五角星印　　記。

“我們可不能再和這匹馬干仗了，老板!”一個牛仔喊道。

“是啊，它一定想找它的孩子。”另一個牛仔說，“我們不該把它的孩子扔下的。”

“可那小的也跑得太慢了。”一個低沉的聲音吼道，“我們一過邊境就把這大的賣了。”

真是太可怕了!杰克想。他知道安妮一定也很難過。他只希望安妮別忍不住跳出酒桶去。

牛仔把那匹紅馬牽走了。隨著馬隊飛馳而去，地面回響著馬蹄的聲響。

杰克和安妮站起身，望著牛仔們的身影消失在一片揚塵之中。

馬蹄聲漸漸消逝了。一切又重歸寧靜，除了幾只懶蒼蠅的嗡嗡聲。

“他們對那匹馬太壞了。”安妮說，聲音低低的，顯得非常生氣。

“我知道，但我們也沒辦法。”杰克說。他的靴子弄得他痛極了。他爬出酒桶，說：

“天啊，我得把這東西脫掉。”

杰克坐在旅館的門廊上，使勁地想要把一只腳上的靴子拽掉。

“杰克。”安妮說，“我想我們有辦法了。”

“什么?”杰克抬起頭。

一匹小馬正一路跑來。它和剛才那匹剛烈的母馬一樣，周身通紅，也有著同樣的黑色鬃毛和雙眼上方的白色五角星印記。

它的脖子上也有一根繩子，小馬看起來十分失落。